Improvement in carpet-stretchers



.ALDRIDGE o. ELLIS, or BIRMINGHAM, MIOHIGAN.

IMPROVEMENT IN CARPET-STRETCHERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 129,802, dated July 23, 1872.

To whom it may concern:

i '1 Be it known that I, ALDRIDGE O. ELLIS, of

Birmingham, in the county of Oakland and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Garpet-Stretchers; and

I do declare that the following is a true and accurate description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing and to the letters of reference marked thereon and being a part of this specification, in which my invention is shown in perspective;

This invention has for its object to provide a device by which a carpet 'may be smoothly and uniformly stretched on the floor of an apartment to which it is to be tacked. The invention consists in a pair of bars sliding on each other, being actuated by a cordpassing around a sheave in one end of each bar, one end of the moving bar being provided witha clamp to hold the edge of the fabric while stretching; also, in a ratchet and pawl for maintaining the strain upon the carpet, the whole being arranged to operate as more fully hereinafter set forth.

In thejdrawing, A represents a portion of the floor of an apartment; B, the wash-board; and C, the carpet that is being laid, and which has been tacked down to the floor along'the edge next the wash-board,'seen on the left of thedrawing. DD aretwo wooden bars, which slide on each other, being held together by the metallic strapsa a, which pass fromnear the end of each around the body of the other. The bar D has an arm, 1), across its end, secured thereto in the manner of a T-square.

On this arm is laid a similar one, b, throughwhich pass screw-bolts 0 from the bottom one,

on which screws are threaded tail-nuts c, which thus convert the arms into clamps. At one side of the bar D there is a ratchet-piece, d, and to the side of the other bar there is pivoted a pawl, d, which engages with the ratchet and prevents the bar D from sliding back when extended. Just back of the pawl one end of a cord, E, is secured to the bar D; thence it is led around a sheave, c, mortised in the back end of the bar D; thence arounda sheave, c, mortiscd in the outer end of the bar D The carpet being tacked down along one edge, the operator raises the pawl and slides back the bar D under its mate, laying the latter down against the wash-board; he then introduces the free edge of the carpet between the clamps b b and screws down the nuts; then, by pulling the cord E, the bar D will be forced forward toward the other side of the room, and, when the carpet is stretched to place, the pawl holds it, when two or three tacks may be driven through the carpet behind the clamp, which may then be removed, and the edge of the carpet be tacked in the usual manner.

The carpet, having a considerable breadth in the clamp, is not only tightly stretched, but cannot fail to lie smooth.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

- The herein-described carpet-stretcher, consisting of the bars D D, straps a a, clamps b 1), nuts 0 c, ratchet d, pawl 01, sheaves e c, and cord E, arranged and operating substan- ,tially as shown and set forth.

ALDRIDGE O. ELLIS.

Witnesses H. F. EBERTS, J. W. BOWLER. 

